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ANIMATION
From data to drama
Motion capture has made incredible advances during the last 30 years, and is now accessible to more studios than ever. James Batchelor asks leading experts in the field what improvements to the technology could mean for games in future
MOTION CAPTURE IS rapidly becoming ubiquitious in games. Once a major selling feature to show how high-end your title was, it is now found in almost every blockbuster title – and even a few indie hits. This can be attributed to significant advances made in mo-cap technology of the past few decades. Develop and mo-cap specialist Vicon, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, invited experts to London for a roundtable discussion on what these advances have enabled.
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“Motion capture was always about lots of technology getting as accurate data as possible, but now that’s almost taken for granted,” says Vicon product manager Phil Elderfield. “Now the technology is all but invisible, and the emphasis is much more about the animation and the creative side.” Alex Counsell, principal technician for motion capture at the University of Portsmouth, says the final performance is the
biggest beneficiary: “We don’t have to ensure that actors are mindful that they’re in a mo-cap suit and adjust their actions to fit our technology. They don’t have to worry about what we’re doing, they can just concentrate on their performance. “I can look for professionals confident that the system’s going to pick everything up. We can just sit back and we’re almost invisible – apart from the velcro, gaffer tape and all the other fun aspects of mo-cap.” Stuart Butler, senior lecturer in computer games design at Staffordshire Uni, agrees, adding that the rising quality of motion capture means that poor performances are more obvious than ever.
“You’re not just watching a bunch of green dots on a screen wondering if it’s going to work,” he says. “Now if students go back and shoot, it’s not a case of the capture not working, it’s that the guy in the suit wasn’t much cop as an actor.”
Top-to-bottom: University of Portsmouth’s Alex Counsell, Audiomotion’s Mick Morris, Vicon’s Phil Elderfield and Tameem Antoniades of Ninja Theory
AUGUST 2014 | 55
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